Peters



R. N. ALLEN. Railway-Rail.

No. 225,910 Patented Mar. 30, I880.

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Wweaw N. PETERS, PHOTmLITHDGRAPMER. WASHINGTON. D Q

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD N. ALLEN, OF HUDSON, NEW YORK.

RAILWAY- RAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,910, dated March 30, 1880.

' Application filed November 8, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD N. ALLEN, of Hudson, in the county of Columbia and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Rails, of which the following is a specificationl Compound railway-rails-that is, rails composed of longitudinal sections riveted togetherhave heretofore been made and used to a limited extent. The advantage of this kind of rail over the open-jointed rail in general use is, that the ends of any two longitudinal sections can always be joined or brought together at or near the middle of a third section, so that there will be throughout the whole length of the track no open joints, or joints extending across the entire rail, and consequently, as the wheels hear about equally on each section of the rail, the concussion or hammering caused by the wheels in passing over openjointed rails, with the attendant shock and injury to the rolling-stock, and especially to the superstructure in case the track is elevated, is almost entirely prevented.

A difliculty has heretofore been experienced in uniting the sections of the compound rail so that they would not spread laterally and the longitudinal joint become more or less opened. Rivets have generally been used for this purpose; but as their heads were frequently torn away by the lateral strain, the sections of the rail would become loosened and spread apart. When this takes place their edges will broom up or become laminated under the constant pressure of moving trains,

' and the rails in a short time become ruined.

It is the object of this invention to provide means by which the sections of a compound rail can be securely and practically united, and also by which this kind of rail can be laid and used between guard-rails, such as are in general use on elevated railroads; and the invention consists of the combination, with the sections, of washers and nuts which bear against the opposite sides of the web of the rail and fill the vertical space between the head and foot thereof, and'holts passing through the web, by which the sections are clamped between the washers and nuts; also, of cutting out the web at the ends of each longitudinal section. whereby any two adjacent ends can be secured to the body of a third section by the use of a single bolt.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a side elevation of a compound rail Fig. 2, a horizontal section through the line .90 00 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a vertical cross-section; Fig. 4, a plan view of one of the joints, and Fig. 5 an enlarged view of one of the fastening-bolts.

.In these drawings, A A A represent sections or parts which make up a compound rail, each of which in cross-section, as shown in Fig. 3, forms one-half of a T-shaped rail. B B B are oblong holes through the web of the rail for the insertion of the bolts, and to permit the expansion and contraction of the rails, and should be about two feet apart, a half of one of these holes being formed in the ends of each section.

It is desirable that the sections A A A be I duplicates of each other in all substantial respects-t'or instance, that they be of the same length, and the bolt-holes be similarly located in each, as in such case they can be used indiscriminately interchangeably inlayin g or repairing the track.

0 O G are washers. and D D D are nuts bearing against the opposite sides of the web of the rail, and nearly or quite filling the space between the head and the foot thereof, whereby they will better add to the strength of the rail at the joints, or wherever the rail is weakened by the bolt-holes, and will also be prevented from turning around. These nuts and washers may be of the same'shape, and need only differ in that the nuts are screw-threaded, and should be about three inches in length, which it is believed will afford suflicientj bearing against the web of the rail to prevent the sections from being torn away from each other by any lateral strain to which they may be subjected in use. 1

E E E are bolts having screw-threaded ends to match the nuts, and also having these screwthreaded ends slit longitudinally of the bolt to a distance somewhatbeyondthat at which they project through the nuts when the bolts are eeaeno fastened in their places, and can only be rcmoved by the application of the wrench or other tool to the heads of the bolts to unscrew them. When, however, the bolts are turned inv the proper direction to remote them, the spread portions will be brought together, and the bolts can be withdrawn; and they can be reused as many times as the strength of the iron of which they are made will permit. It is preferred that the ends of the bolts be provided with two slits crossing each other at right angles, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, so that when the divided parts are spread they will bear more equally upon the thread of the nut than if there were only a single slit. The ends of the bolts can be readily slitted by sawing out narrow kerfs with saws adapted for such work.

By this combination of washers, nuts, and bolts the sections of a compound rail can be readily and securely united, and in such manner that any section can be expeditiously detached without any disturbance or injury to the adjacent parts.

Instead of using a washer like G to bear against the web of the rail, the bolt-head may be formed, like the washer (J, to nearly fill the space between the head and the foot of the rail, and to extend to the desired distance along the web, and the washer in such case may be transferred to the other side of the web, and the parts clamped together by means of a common nut screwed on the end of the bolt which projects beyond the washer.

This construction also adapts the compound rail for use upon railroads provided with guard-rails on both sides of the track-rails, as is generally the case with elevated railroads, The compound rail as heretofore made,

by riveting together the separate sections, could not be used with guard-rails, as there would not be sufficient room between the track-rails and the guard-rails to head the rivets; and if the track-rails were laid first and the guard-rails afterward, the track-rails could not be repaired. to any extent without removing the guard-rails. With the present construction, on the contrary, the guard-rails furnish no serious obstacle to laying and repairing a track made of compound rails, as there is ample room between the track and the guard-rails to perform all the required work.

The use of the compound rail on elevated roads will not only be a great improvement over the open-jointed rails now in use in materially decreasing the shock and jar arising from the constant hammering of the succes sive sets of wheels, but will also to a very greatextent remove the noise, a large proportion of which is due to the vibrations incident to the concussion of the wheels in passing over the open joints.

\Vhat is claimed as new is 1. The combination, with the sections of a compound continuous railway-rail, of washers and nuts, both constructed and arranged to bear against the opposite sides of the web of the rail, and to fill the space between the head and the foot thereof, and bolts passing through such washers and web and screwed with such nuts, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a compound continuous railway-rail, three or more sections having the web at their extreme ends cut away, in combination with bolts passing through the openings formed by joining the ends of any two sections and through the body of a third section, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7 R. N. ALLEN.

\Vitnesses E. T. KELLEY,

W. G. NIBLETT. 

